New Delhi: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday urged the central government to take up canalisation of state's three eastern rivers of the Indus water system as a national project to enable the conservation of water and enhancement of region's economic growth.
In his proposal presented to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a meeting Chief Minister suggested the construction of high-speed economic corridors on 985 km river embankments apart from river training works, flood protection measures and lining of internal side-slopes of the Sutlej, Ravi and Beas.
The move, he said, would help the state enhance its Jal Shakti (water power) to encourage diversification of agriculture, promote quality urbanisation, set up colonies, and speed up industrialisation for better and quicker economic emancipation of our citizens.
Complimenting the Prime Minister on his initiative to provide drinking water to each household in the country, through the creation of the new Ministry of Jal Shakti, and the inception of Jal (water) Jeevan (life) Mission and the Nal se Jal (tap water) scheme, Amarinder Singh said his government also stands committed to the cause of providing drinking water to its citizens under the initiative Har Ghar Pani - Har Ghar Safai (water and sanitation for every household).
The Chief Minister, while expressing concern over the state's reduction in Jal Shakti at the time of India's partition and against during the reorganisation of the state in 1966, pointed out that the three perennial rivers of Sutlej, Ravi and Beas irrigate only about 27 per cent of the state's cultivated area, leading to over-exploitation of the groundwater.
It is apprehended, he further noted, that seven districts of the state will transform into a desert in the near future, with sure signs of poverty revisiting these areas.